Reducing Chronic Disease Costs

Friday, March 29, 2019 noon – 1 pm

3 Summit Park
Independence, OH
(just west of Rockside at 77 exit)

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chronic diseases related to lifestyle account for 75% of national medical costs. Pre-diabetes is one of the leading chronic conditions with Americans today. To fight this epidemic, diabetes prevention programs recognized by the CDC work with people with prediabetes on lifestyle changes that reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. GemCare Wellness is recognized by the CDC as a provider of the DPP program.
GemCare Wellness is a leader in the health and wellness industry by offering strategic services that bring meaningful, measurable and financially rewarding results to a client. GemCare utilizes a personalize approach in order to guide participants in making lasting health improvements that manage chronic conditions. With a team of certified healthcare professionals, GemCare delivers quality care to ensure member reach their maximum potential and employer receive positive outcomes for diabetes care, obesity, heart disease, smoking cessation, and more. We will help your employees manage their conditions and improve their overall health while decreasing your health costs as an employer.

About the speaker
Kathleen A. Daberko, Business Development Manager, GEMCORE Health and a GemCare Wellness Registered Dietitian.

Conference call

CDC scorecard

Thursday December 13 at 10:00 am

How good is your wellness program? Where should you improve? What is a comprehensive wellness program and how do you measure it? Join us for this conference call to discuss locally the CDC scorecard project. You can also signup for one of the CDC webinars on the updated scorecard held in the next month (see below). If you are unfamiliar with the scorecard go to https://www.cdc.gov/workplacehealthpromotion/initiatives/healthscorecard/index.html

Our task locally is to provide wellness leaders a place to discuss the opportunities of the scorecard use at their organization.

CDC webinars

December 7, 2–3 p.m. EST

December 10, 1–2 p.m. EST

Hear how the updated version of the CDC ScoreCard compares to the current version. Key additions include workplace prevention strategies on sleep and fatigue, alcohol and other substance use, musculoskeletal disorders, and cancer. Register here for the webinars.

Reducing Opioid Addiction Through Better Care

Tuesday, October 30, 2018 noon – 1 pm

3 Summit Park
Independence, OH
(just west of Rockside at 77 exit)

Over 116 million Americans seek care and relief for musculoskeletal condition and injuries, making these injuries the costliest and fastest growing expense for employers and health plans. Typically, patients seeking relief from musculoskeletal pain are funneled into a long-term pain management plan, which often includes a reliance on prescription opioids. In fact, the number of prescriptions for opioid pain relievers has increased dramatically in recent years, causing an alarming rise in opioid addiction and opioid-related fatality rates.

To reduce opioid addiction Airrosti providers adhere to strict quality clinical guidelines and a focus on evidence-based care. This includes one full hour of one-on-one care with each patient to fully diagnose and manually correct the source of the injury, followed by targeted active care rehab and injury education. Join Kelly Burchett from Airrosti to hear how this treatment method significantly reduces recovery times and is making an impact on opioid use.

Collaborating for success

Tuesday, September 18, 2018 noon – 1 pm

3 Summit Park
Independence, OH
(just west of Rockside at 77 exit)

Will collaborating make all of us stronger and improve our chances of long term success? Instead of offering clients a fragmented wellness program what about working together? No Northeast Ohio Company should have to look outside our area to get a robust, effective, workplace wellness solution that delivers documented results. Join us, with an open mind, to discuss what expertise you bring to the table and the value you add to a comprehensive, collaboratively delivered corporate wellness program. All vendors and companies are welcome.

Webinar

A Voice 4 U can save a life and money

Tuesday, August 21, 2018 10:00 AM

With safety being a premium at the workplace, in the event of a medical emergency the #1 most important thing is making sure that first responders have immediate access to that person’s updated and accurate vital medical history, and to that person’s emergency contacts. To assist in this regard A Voice 4 U brings you:The I.C.E. Card(IN CASE OF EMERGENCY CARD) Attend this 30 minute presentation to hear a brief program overview followed by your questions.

When added to your employee benefit package your company will then have the added protection that if one of your employees were to fall victim to a workplace accident or medical incident which renders him non-responsive, first responders can simply call or text a toll free number, or scan the QR code found on the I.C.E. Card. Immediately
anyone nearby to assist with the employee as well as the first responder receives the vital information on their cell phone.

Certainly, getting the finest medical treatment for your employee at the earliest possible time is most important. However, just as sure as preventative medicine lessens medical occurrences and lowers premiums; the added measure of providing your employees the I.C.E. Card will better insure that in the event of a medical emergency at the workplace their immediate treatment will end with the best
possible result.

For more information about A Voice 4 U and the I.C.E. Card you can go to www.avoice4u.com, or please call Katrina Seiter at 1-937-222-AV4U (2848).

The more informed Healthcare Consumer

Tuesday, May 15, 2018 noon – 1 pm

1 Summit Park
Independence, OH
(just west of Rockside at 77 exit)

Please attend our lunch discussion on medical consumerism. Learn how an engaged healthcare consumers can improve outcomes and lower costs for your organization. ConsumerMedical is providing employees of organizations with high-touch independent clinical advocacy, medical decision support, and expert medical opinion (both in-person and via remote 2nd opinion). They are helping members to become better informed consumers of healthcare while helping organizations to reduce their healthcare spend. Clients include companies such as: FedEx, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Estee Lauder, Eastman, CSX, IHG, Xerox, Union Pacific, Pacific Life, Ingersoll-Rand, and MasterCard. Base on their 20 year track record they can put 100% of their fees at risk if they do not generate at least a $1:1 ROI.

Need more, click on this link to an independently prepared whitepaper on Honeywell’s experience with the Surgical Decision Support component of ConsumerMedical over an 11-year time period. Below is a link to a brief video featuring the lead actuary from the study: https://vimeo.com/127940941. ConsumerMedical has multi-year experience collaborating with clients on both incentive and penalty-based employee engagement strategies.About the speaker
David Lucarelli is Vice President, Employer Solutions for ConsumerMedical and can be contacted at 770.552.6553.

Webinar

Fighting Obesity and Chronic Disease

Tuesday, March 20, 2018 2:00 pm

Have you change the lifestyle of your pre-diabetics? Would you like to be assured of the value of a diabetes prevention programs before a long term contract? Then attend this 30 minute presentation to hear a brief program overview followed by your questions. Jonathan Funston, V. P. Cappa Health will present the high-touch digital health programs delivering results for the obesity and chronic behavioral health related epidemics in the U.S. Cappa pairs mobile Registered Dietitians with CDC-approved content focused on nutrition, movement, mindset, and recovery driving sustained engagement and meaningful weight loss outcomes with forward-thinking organizations across industries. Cappa’s focus on qualifying and setting success expectations with participants, use of only Registered Dietitians as coaches, and participant choice to use any device makes them the premier behavioral counseling solution in the marketplace. Add to that their performance-based pricing making them an easy option for any size organization.

Strategic planning self assessment using HERO

Tuesday, December 12, 2017 2:30 – 3 pm

Following up our October 10 meeting, we are hosting a 30 minute discussion of the use of the HERO scorecard as a self-evaluation tool to aid in your wellness strategic planning. If you wish you can begin by downloading our October 10th presentation from Carrie Alexanders. Carrie also offered the following documents for review for our online discussion.

Create a strategic well-being initiative

Learn how to create a strategic well-being initiative that makes it easy to be healthy at work, positively impacts organizational culture and improves individual well-being. Find out how to take your wellness program from a series of events to one that creates a workplace where health is a part of daily life. The presentation will describe evidence-based practices such as the Individual Wellbeing Model based on the book Wellbeing: The 5 Essential Elements by Tom Rath (a Gallup researcher) and the Organizational Wellbeing Model used by the Health Enhancement Research Organization, which has been proven to deliver positive health outcomes as well as enhanced financial results based on comprehensive studies by Mercer and HERO.

Presenter: Carrie Alexander leads Findley Davies’ Strategic Employer Wellness services, helping clients integrate well-being within organizational culture and health care strategy. Drawing from the latest research and best practices, she delivers proven solutions that are flexible and customized to the unique needs of each organization.

Lunch provided

As businesses grapple with rising healthcare costs some are seeking relief through wellness programs. What are your options?

Wellness Council supporter Steve Pelton from HChoices has developed a series of engaging 15 minute presentations followed by a brief Q&A sessions. If you are interested please reply to smsugrave@wellnesscouncilohio.org to be registered and receive further information.

Great American Smokeout call November 17, 2016 at 10AM

Please reply with your smoking cessation activity that you are implementing either this year or for the Great American Smokeout day. Laura Loew founder of Smash the Ash, will lead the discussion of worksite activities on our conference call at 10AM on November 17. She will also present tips for worksite cessation implementation and where to find free or low cost resources. Join us with your questions or comments. Click for resource list. http://wellnesscouncilohio.org/FREEQuittingResources.pdf

co-sponsored by
Northeast Region Healthy Ohio Business Council and the Wellness Council

Also Sherry Leggett from Certified Angus Beef, a recipient of the American Psychological Association Psychology Healthy Worksite Award, will provide insights into the application process and implementation of some of their initiatives.

Please join us at Avery Dennison on August 16, 2016 from 8 to 9:30am for a Regional Wellness Council meeting.

Featured presenter Sharon Minjares from Lake Health will describe her program which achieved a Healthy Ohio Gold level award this year. Then three short presentations: Steve Musgrave will present “What the Council can do for you”; Sunny Klein Lurie, PhD. of Advanced Performance, Inc. will present “Five Wellbeing Ideas to Boost Performance & Energize Employees” and Steve Pelton of Hchoices will cover how to “Lessen the cost of chronic disease”.
Avery Dennison address is 250 Chester Bldg #1, Painesville, Ohio 44077.

Webinar:

Onsite Wellness Screenings

Tuesday, July 26, 2016 at 10 am

Onsite screenings are usually the second or third wellness initiative after doing healthfairs and contest. What is usually screened? What are the typical results? How much does it cost? What should you look for in a screener? These are just some of the questions that will be addressed. This is your opportunity to have your questions address.

Please join us at Invacare on June 21, 2016 from 8 to 9:30am for a Regional Wellness Council meeting.

Presentations by Invacare, Wellness Council and Well Being experts fill up the agenda. Invacare is at One Invacare way Elyria OH 44036. Click here for more information InvacareMeeting

Webinar:

Make Stress Work for Your Company

Thursday, June 9, 2016 at 10 am

While we cannot control our external pressures, we can learn how to optimize our responses to those pressures. Stress is a natural process and managing it is an inner game. The obvious costs of stress have been related to health and insurance costs and yet underlying truths of how stress truly impacts those numbers is uncharted.

Making decisions from expertise and hard earned experience create very different results than those made from a stressful/emotional perspective. Tune in to hear Annita Keane talk about 3 practical strategies that can get stress working for your company.

Webinar:

5 Wellbeing Ideas to Boost Performance & Energize Employees

Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at 1 pm

How do your employees generally feel when they enter your workplace — happy to be there or dread walking in? The unfortunate news is that only 50 percent of employees are happy at work. A real connection exists between wellbeing and performance. When wellbeing improves, performance rises. Wellbeing is about the whole person in five key areas: intellectual, occupational, social, physical, and emotional wellness. Supporting wellbeing drives performance and builds healthy workplaces. Does your workplace energize employees? Find out how to help employees thrive.

New methods to delivering care that can save your employees money and keep them out of surgery

Thursday, April 14, 2016 noon – 1 pm
3 Summit Park Auditorium (Lower Level)
Independence, OH
(just west of Rockside at 77 exit)
Join us to discuss two new entities in Northeast Ohio that strive to save patients money and time in treating a variety of orthopedic conditions. Founded by internationally renowned shoulder surgeon Reuben Gobezie, MD, GO Ortho is an urgent care specifically designed to get patients in front of an orthopedic specialist fast. The facility saves them the hassle of going to the ER and more importantly the ER level price tag. GO Ortho offers same day appointments that are billed as regular orthopedic office visits.

Trevor Bullock, DO, CAQSM – Medical Director
Dr. Trevor Bullock is a board-certified, orthopedic specialist with fellowship training in sports medicine. He has treated athletes in a number of different capacities as a team physician on the professional, collegiate and high school levels throughout Ohio. Dr. Bullock has served as a team physician for the Cleveland Arrows (AA team for Cleveland Indians) and Kent State as well as numerous high schools in the area.

Beyond conventional orthopedic treatments, Dr. Bullock also has extensive training in musculoskeletal ultrasound and treats a wide variety of orthopedic injuries with platelet rich plasma and bone marrow concentrate (stem cell) injections. In addition to overseeing the care of athletes, Dr. Bullock was a former member of Ohio University’s football team and graduate of the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

About half of all U.S. employers now offer financial wellness programs, although how they define them varies. Many companies have long offered lectures on topics like retirement. But increasingly, say analysts tracking the trend, employers are tailoring their programs to the worker — more like a personal trainer who works on your budget rather than your waistline. Come to this Department of Labor train the trainer presentation which should help you with your Financial Wellness program. Take some or all of this presentation to put on your own Savings Fitness program. As more and more wellness programs add a financial component, good sources of free information are always welcome. Take a look at this pdf link “Time is on Your Side” as an example of free information available. Come with your questions and add to this discussion.

Vendors are an important part of our local wellness environment. At our next meeting we will discuss how the Council can assist wellness vendors better serve companies. Come ready with your idea. All those who attend will have time to present their idea for Council activity. The group will then discuss how an when to implement ideas presented. This meeting is open to both companies and wellness vendors.

Come participate in a discussion of shared value and how we need to change our approach to healthcare to be focus on prevention vs. a curative model that is very prominent in the US. The Vitality Group is a member of Discovery Ltd., a prominent international financial services organization. As a pioneer and global leader in the concept of shared value, Discovery was the first insurer in the world to incentivize healthy behavior.

The Vitality approach is centered on this notion of “shared value;” by empowering employees and their families to lead healthier lives, which creates stronger and more profitable businesses. Shared value is not a new idea, but it’s rare to see in action in the healthcare industry. Vitality connects everyone across the system, enabling them to create value and manage risks — together. They are committed to this model built on powerful incentives, even for themselves. If the Vitality program doesn’t yield the expected results, companies will pay less.

Vitality has been successful in their approach and recently recognized in Fortune 51 List of Companies Changing the World. Vitalities’ client, McKesson, was just named the 2015 winner of the C. Everett Koop Award this week at the Hero Conference in Chicago, Illinois.

About Vitality:

We bring a global perspective through successful partnerships with large employers and best-in-class insurers around the world, including the United States (John Hancock), United Kingdom (Vitality Health, Vitality Life), China (Ping-an), Singapore (AIA) and Australia (AIA). Our history and DNA is insurance, and as such, we are able to seamlessly link insurance impact with wellness activity. Our program is driven by rich data – 220 million months of global member data collected over the past 20 years.

LiveHealth Online – A convenient and secure way to see a highly-trained, board certified doctor in 10 minutes or less that saves employees time and money while reducing health care expenses for employers.

Let’s face it, everyone is busy these days. Trying to schedule a doctor’s visit to deal with an acute, non-emergency health issue can be time consuming and may involve a wait of several days to get in. Finding and going to an Urgent Care facility where wait times are typically high and with crowded waiting rooms is not always an option. Going to the Emergency Room can result in long wait times and costs that typically reach over $1,000. The good news is, Anthem has created an innovative solutions that addresses all of these issues. It is called LiveHealth Online. A 24/7 telehealth solution that allows employees to get the care they need, when they need it most. Using LiveHealth Online you can see a doctor in 10 minutes or less on your phone, tablet or computer. It’s simple to use and very convenient.

Join us Tuesday, September 15, 2015 at 12 noon at 3 Summit Park Auditorium, to learn how Anthem can potentially save employers and members thousands of dollars annually by getting employees to utilize LiveHealth Online for the appropriate acute care conditions.

LiveHealth Online. In this session you will learn:

What is telehealth, and how is it being used in the marketplace

Anthem’s LiveHealth Online innovative solution

Outcomes you can expect

About the speaker: Sharon Boose is the Sales Director at LiveHealth Online and can be reached at sharon.boose@livehealthonline.com.